GETTING OUT THE HITTING STICKS — Jarrett Pokrovsky watches his ball leave McCrary Park in Asheboro for a two-run homer against Lexington on Monday, June 30. The ZooKeepers have been on a hitting tear.
Over the weekend, the American Legion playoffs got under way and the Asheboro ZooKeepers had half a dozen players participating in the Coastal Plain League’s All-Star weekend. Leading up to the weekend, though, lots happened. Here’s a look.
■ Braxton Walker pitched a five-in-ning one-hitter with five strikeouts as Randolph County romped to a 10-0 win over Moore County. Ethan Willard and Caleb Coggins both had two hits, including two doubles, and an RBI. Jake Riddle walloped a two-run double, Carter Brown had an RBI triple, Grat Dalton had an RBI double and Zack Scruggs had an RBI single.
■ Noah Madren belted a solo home run in Liberty’s 7-1 loss to Hamlet.
■ Riddle hurled a seven-hitter with seven strikeouts as Randolph County downed Liberty 9-2. Jackson Hill had a two-run double while Willard doubled in a run. Cohen Caviness had a two-run single and Walker had an RBI single.
Mark King was 3-for-3, including a two-run double, for Liberty.
■ Carter Brown belted a two-run double in Randolph County’s 5-0 win over Chatham County. Walker and Scruggs each had an RBI single. Tate Andrews got an RBI on a bases-loaded walk. Parker Kines hurled a four-hitter with seven strikeouts over five innings. Drew Harmon and Sean Jennison each pitched a scoreless inning.
■ Liberty scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning and downed Hamlet 4-1 in Game 1 of their best-of-three first round Area III playoff series. Eli Holland’s RBI single broke the 1-1 deadlock. Madren, who was 2-for-4, doubled in a run and Noah Lester singled in a run. Mason Taylor had an RBI single in the sixth. Mark King, Ethan Mann, Holland, Lester, Taylor and Madren all had two hits. Lucas Smith pitched a two-hitter with four strikeouts.
■ Willard went 4-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs while Walker smashed a two-run homer as Randolph County beat Chatham County 10-0 in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round Area III playoff series. Andrews had an RBI double. Walker hurled a five-inning two-hitter with seven strikeouts.
■ Jarrett Pokrovsky had a two-run single in the Zookeepers’ 5-4 win over Lexington County. Sal Laimo went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Kruise Newman was 2-for-5. Matt Goldenbaum was the winning pitcher with 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief Goldenbaum struck out two. Connor Darling pitched three scoreless innings, striking out five and walking five.
■ Jake Griffith was 4-for-5 with an RBI in the ZooKeepers’ 10-4 loss to Holly Springs. Yariel Diaz went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Newman was 1-for-4 with an RBI.
■ Pokrovsky was 3-for-3 with three RBIs in the ZooKeepers’ 9-3 win over Martinsville. Seojun Oh and Griffith both had three hits. Cole Kitchens was 1-for-1 with three RBIs. Joe Rauscher pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and two runs with three strikeouts, to get the win. Hiroyuki Yamada hurled 3 1/3 innings of hitless relief, giving up one run with two walks and two strikeouts, for the save.
■ Davis Germann, Diaz, Oh, and Pokrovsky all had a hit with two RBIs in the ZooKeepers’ 14-5 rout of Florence. Eli Hammill was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Pokrovsky also finished with two hits. Nathan Chrismon was 3-for-5. Caleb Cockerham got the win with three innings of scoreless relief.
■ Pokrovsky smashed a two-run homer and had a sacrifice fly in the ZooKeepers’ 10-2 victory over the Forest City Owls. Diaz was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Rylen Stockton was 3-for-5 with a pair of runs. Sam Hunter and Griffith both had an RBI single. Mason McDaniel allowed five hits and two runs with five strikeouts in six innings to get the win.
■ Oh was 3-for-4 with an RBI in the ZooKeepers’ 7-4 loss to the High Point-Thomasville HiToms. Cooper McKenzie was 1-for-4 with an RBI. Newman was 1-for-5 with an RBI. Hammill was 2-for-3.
■ The former Randleman star was batting .244 with 6 home runs and 33 RBIs as of July 4 for the Salem Red Sox, the High-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Brannon belted his sixth home run of the season on July 3.
■ The former Post 45 pitcher is 1-2 with a 2.32 earned run average and 8 saves foe the independent Long Island Ducks. But he was injured recently and is currently on the injured list.
■ Southwestern Randolph’s Macie Crutchfield was named 2025 All-District 5 Pitcher of the Year by the North Carolina Softball Coaches Association.
Other county players making all-district were Uwharrie Charter’s Emory Johnson, Katelyn West, Carly Rush and Bristol Marine in 1-A; Randleman’s Kadie Green, Addyson Dees, Kinzie Ivey and Kaylee Phillips in 2-A; Southwestern Randolph’s Savannah Holleman, Kami Dunn, Alyssa Harris, Maddie Strider and Nautica Parrish in 2-A; and Wheatmore’s Madison Nichols in 2-A.
■ Green, Dees, Ivey, Crutchfield, Dunn, Harris, Strider and Parrish were named to the 2-A all-state team by the North Carolina Softball Coaches Association.